Safety group hits out at coroner

A road safety group has sharply criticised a Co Donegal coroner for claiming there is no need to reduce the blood alcohol level.

Susan Gray, founder of Public Against Road Carnage (Parc), said comments by Donegal northeast coroner Dr John Madden that "drivers who have had one or two pints are not the problem" ran contrary to drink-driving research.

"Parc disagrees with Dr Madden and the scientific evidence does not support his view.

"There is clear evidence that important driving skills are impaired at very low blood alcohol concentrations. At half the legal limit, drivers are twice as likely to have a collision and at the legal limit, drivers are six times more likely to have a collision," she said.

Gray said that Dr Declan Bedford, a specialist in public health with the HSE who has researched the role of alcohol in fatal crashes, found that: "Any amount of alcohol impairs driving, so there should be no acceptable level."

In the context of trying to change the culture of drink-driving, Gray said Dr Madden's views were most unhelpful.

"Many drivers believe they are safe to drive if they are below the legal limit. This is a mistake. The risk of being involved in a crash increases in direct proportion to the amount of alcohol consumed," she said.

Dr Madden told The Irish Timesthat during 17 years as coroner, the vast majority of inquests into fatal traffic crashes where alcohol was implicated involved blood alcohol levels far in excess of the legal limit of 80mg/100ml.

"In the majority of cases the blood alcohol levels are between 150mg and 350mg," he said.

"I believe, and I think most adult people in Ireland would believe, that one drink and driving home is not dangerous. And that is from common experience," said Dr Madden.

"If it is my turn to drive, I will have one drink and no more. This would push you over a 50mg/100ml limit, were such a limit introduced."

Dr Madden pointed to Britain, which shares a 80mg/100ml blood alcohol limit with the Republic, but has a far better road safety record.

"They have draconian penalties for people who transgress the driving laws and much more aggressive policing.

"People frequently go to jail for much longer periods than in this country for motoring offences," he said.

He believes stricter enforcement of existing limits, rather than a lower limit, is the best way to reduce alcohol-related road fatalities.

An expert group set up by the Road Safety Authority is currently considering what blood alcohol level is most appropriate for the Republic.

The new Road Safety Strategy calls for a new limit to be introduced no later than June 2009.

Gray said Parc was calling for an effective zero alcohol limit and was conducting a survey on its website to find out what level the public considered the most appropriate for the Republic.

She added that Parc was hoping to meet with the Minister for Transport to discuss a range of road safety issues, in particular the mandatory testing for alcohol of all those involved in a collision.

The Garda has also confirmed that 14,828 drivers were tested for alcohol during the six-day period between December 10th and 16th as part of a European week against drink driving, organised by Tispol - the European Traffic Police Network.

These checks resulted in 335 drivers being detected over the limit. A Garda spokeswoman said that gardaí are carrying out an average of "30,000 drink driving interventions every month" .

Figures for the overall number of drink driving checks over Christmas or for the month of December are not available, according to Mrs Gray.